Triggers on DM5 dying one by one

[itm]

It seems that the trigger inputs on my DM5 are slowly dying one by one - ports 8, 11 and 12 are all dead when I try to plug any of my pads into them. Is this common, and is there an economical way of repairing them?

 

[ashcat_lt]

How often are you plugging and unplugging the thing? I guess it's possible that the jacks have worn out or broken their connections to the circuit board, but I'd almost be surprised.

Are you absolutely sure that it's not something in the settings? Are those triggers actually assigned to notes which are actually assigned to drums which are actually assigned to the outputs you're monitoring through and turned up? Are the sensitivity, noise, and/or crosstalk settings perhaps adjusted to values that just won't let it catch anything? Have you tried using the exact same pad with the exact same cable into another of the trigger inputs?

If it is the jacks, they're probably not that difficult to replace if you've got a bit of soldering experience. It might be as simple as reflowing and/or adding a bit of new solder to the original connections to the PCB. You'd have to open it up and look or bust out the meter and check continuity.

 

[itm]

How often are you plugging and unplugging the thing? I guess it's possible that the jacks have worn out or broken their connections to the circuit board, but I'd almost be surprised.

Are you absolutely sure that it's not something in the settings? Are those triggers actually assigned to notes which are actually assigned to drums which are actually assigned to the outputs you're monitoring through and turned up? Are the sensitivity, noise, and/or crosstalk settings perhaps adjusted to values that just won't let it catch anything? Have you tried using the exact same pad with the exact same cable into another of the trigger inputs?

If it is the jacks, they're probably not that difficult to replace if you've got a bit of soldering experience. It might be as simple as reflowing and/or adding a bit of new solder to the original connections to the PCB. You'd have to open it up and look or bust out the meter and check continuity.

It's actually been unused (but plugged in for over a year). The crash cymbal in port #12 was working when I last powered up, but not any more. If I swap it into port #7 - which is where the other (working) cymbal is connected it works fine. Likewise if I connect the cable from the other (working) crash cymbal into port #12 I get nothing (i.e. the trigger level on the display does not register anything when I hit the cymbal).

If there's an assigment issue would you expect the trigger level to register anything when the pad is hit?

How easy is this thing to take apart and manipulate? I've got a little soldering experience so would not be averse to having a try.

 

[ashcat_lt]

Honestly, I'd have to look. I have a D4, but I don't remember for sure. Is that display of the input level dependent on the sensitivity settings? I thought it was, so if it's turned way down...

You know that these things are basically just audio inputs, right? You should be able to plug about anything that makes sound into it and get something happening. For testing purposes, you might plug in a phone playing your favorite song or a synth holding a note or something more steady (and hands free) than the cymbal pad so that you don't have to keep hitting the thing as you tweak parameters.

If it really just sat there plugged in, it would be really weird if the jacks broke unless it got bounced around, or the cable was pulled or something else relatively catastrophic happened. It might be that they built up some layer of oxidation on the contacts that's insulating them from the cable. This will often show as an intermittent connection that comes and goes, fades in and out, or crackles and is noisy (if you could actually hear it). They are sort of self cleaning, though. Plugging in and out a few times can scrape away that oxidation and get it to work. Add a little contact cleaner to the plug for bonus points! Just be careful not to put too much stress on it in the process and end up actually breaking the thing!

As far as how hard it is to take apart... It's like anything else. Take out any screws that look like they're holding the chassis together. Then you can pop the top and see what else you need to remove in order to get the PCB out. Maybe snap some pictures so you can see where and how to reconnect anything that you have to unhook.

I would stop and try some things before actually removing the PCB though. It's only 9V and like 1A, so you can mess around inside while powered up without killing yourself, but do remember that some of the components are going to be static sensitive, so ground yourself like you would if you were working inside a computer. You don't have any reason to touch any of the chips anyway... Plug a cable into one of the suspect jacks and then use your meter to test resistance between the parts of the plug on the other end and the corresponding lugs on the jack inside the box. I'd imagine you can do that part without taking the whole thing apart. If it looks right, then you would see if the jack itself is actually connected to the PCB by choosing an appropriate spot on the board to test.

You could post some picks of the guts. If they're well lit and in focus somebody might be able to spot a fault, but these things can be tough to diagnose without actually having it in your lap.

 

[itm]

Honestly, I'd have to look. I have a D4, but I don't remember for sure. Is that display of the input level dependent on the sensitivity settings? I thought it was, so if it's turned way down...

You know that these things are basically just audio inputs, right? You should be able to plug about anything that makes sound into it and get something happening. For testing purposes, you might plug in a phone playing your favorite song or a synth holding a note or something more steady (and hands free) than the cymbal pad so that you don't have to keep hitting the thing as you tweak parameters.

If it really just sat there plugged in, it would be really weird if the jacks broke unless it got bounced around, or the cable was pulled or something else relatively catastrophic happened. It might be that they built up some layer of oxidation on the contacts that's insulating them from the cable. This will often show as an intermittent connection that comes and goes, fades in and out, or crackles and is noisy (if you could actually hear it). They are sort of self cleaning, though. Plugging in and out a few times can scrape away that oxidation and get it to work. Add a little contact cleaner to the plug for bonus points! Just be careful not to put too much stress on it in the process and end up actually breaking the thing!

As far as how hard it is to take apart... It's like anything else. Take out any screws that look like they're holding the chassis together. Then you can pop the top and see what else you need to remove in order to get the PCB out. Maybe snap some pictures so you can see where and how to reconnect anything that you have to unhook.

I would stop and try some things before actually removing the PCB though. It's only 9V and like 1A, so you can mess around inside while powered up without killing yourself, but do remember that some of the components are going to be static sensitive, so ground yourself like you would if you were working inside a computer. You don't have any reason to touch any of the chips anyway... Plug a cable into one of the suspect jacks and then use your meter to test resistance between the parts of the plug on the other end and the corresponding lugs on the jack inside the box. I'd imagine you can do that part without taking the whole thing apart. If it looks right, then you would see if the jack itself is actually connected to the PCB by choosing an appropriate spot on the board to test.

You could post some picks of the guts. If they're well lit and in focus somebody might be able to spot a fault, but these things can be tough to diagnose without actually having it in your lap.

A couple of the plugs did show signs of oxidation so I dipped a Q-tip in denatured alcohol and twirled it around inside the sockets, but it didn't help.

I then tried removing the case screws, but broke the handle off the first screwdriver trying to remove one of the rear screws! I decided to give up when it started destroying screwdriver #2 (and I also tried a little WD40 to loosen them up but it didn't help).

I'm intrigued by the idea of using a meter to test resistance using a plugged-in cable - what would that tell me???

 

[ashcat_lt]

A couple of the plugs did show signs of oxidation so I dipped a Q-tip in denatured alcohol and twirled it around inside the sockets, but it didn't help.

Plugging in and out works best for these. Like I said, their supposed to be self-cleaning.

I'm intrigued by the idea of using a meter to test resistance using a plugged-in cable - what would that tell me???

It would actually be a continuity test, but I prefer to use the resistance setting on my meter, because it gives an idea of how well things are connected, rather than just if they meet whatever threshold your meter considers good enough.

 

[itm]

Plugging in and out works best for these. Like I said, their supposed to be self-cleaning.


It would actually be a continuity test, but I prefer to use the resistance setting on my meter, because it gives an idea of how well things are connected, rather than just if they meet whatever threshold your meter considers good enough.

I tried plugging in/out about 30 times (with a clean jack plug) but it doesn't seem to have had any impact.

Silly question: can the continuity test be done with the DM5 switched off?

In the meantime I've decided to use a 2-into-1 adapter to plug both crash cymbals into the same trigger. Not ideal, but it's very rare that I use both at exactly the same time!